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 | | TENSAR TECHNOLOGY SECURES SOUTH WALES REGENERATION SCHEME | | | Tensar International | | 27/11/2007 | | | Caerphilly County Borough Council’s (CCBC) ambitious Greater Bargoed Community Regeneration project is transforming the Rhymney Valley with a major new highway and reclamation works to provide a 3 ha plateau for retail development.
Tensar Technology is being used to stabilise temporary and permanent embankments for access routes to the new viaduct and the proposed 19 metre high plateau, which is an integral part of the 2007/8 landscape construction phase. By using recycled slag and colliery spoil - instead of expensive and newly quarried imported fill - the scheme demonstrates the successful application of more sustainable solutions.
David Price, Project Manager for Capita Symonds, the consultants acting on behalf of CCBC, says: “Using Tensar geogrids has meant that we have been able to minimise use of heavier and more costly conventional techniques. It has also allowed us to build up the walls and embankments to the viaduct and temporary access bridges with local fill materials, providing a much greener solution.
“The plateau, which is being designed by Hochtief Griffiths and their designer Cass Hayward, will be constructed using spoil from the residual tips of the former Bargoed colliery reinforced with geogrids, ensuring minimal environmental impact during both of these phases. In addition, there will be 4000m2 of steep vegetated slopes to complete the plateau.
“We have specified the Tensartech TR2 wall system to face the abutment to the viaduct, with an aesthetically pleasing local stone cladding. It is proposed that the steep slopes adjacent to the abutment and continuing into the plateau could use the Tensartech GreenSlope system with topsoil to provide a vegetated face to the slope. Within the retail plateau, Tensar engineers also proposed we incorporate an irrigation system for the vegetated slopes, supplied by rainwater harvested from the retail store roofs. The pipework and system would very easy to incorporate within the Tensartech GreenSlope system.”
A new cross valley link incorporating a 200 metre viaduct, spanning the river and the railway line, will provide access to the river and the retail plateau. The 12.5 metre high abutments were built to a traditional slope profile over a complex underlying slope. For this, the Tensartech TR2 wall system was specified as a value engineered alternative to a conventional reinforced concrete method, using recycled slag fill and faced with an attractive local stone cladding.
In addition, to provide plant access to the abutment and plateau during construction, contractors Hochtief/Griffiths Joint Venture are constructing temporary bridges over the railway. Here they are also employing the Tensartech TR2 temporary retaining system, incorporating Tensar uni-axial geogrids attached to a lined steel mesh face to build up the embankments and abutments.
For the piling requirements for the viaduct, the contractor has constructed temporary working platforms to support the rigs. These are essentially piling mats built up using Tensar geogrids with imported granular fill, to ensure the necessary load-bearing support for the heavy duty piling operation.
Says David Price: “Close collaboration with Tensar’s design team and engineers throughout the initial design phase has helped us immensely in progressing this complex project to a successful conclusion.”
The Greater Bargoed Community Regeneration Project is part of CCBC’s strategic 10 year plan (based on a study by Camlin Lonsdale 2005) to transform the town and neighbouring communities.
As a result of the improved transport links with new rail, bus and road infrastructure projects, as well as the planned retail developments, the scheme will attract new employment investment into the area; and is being funded by the Welsh Assembly Government’s Department for the Economy and Transport.
The Department for the Economy and Transport is providing £31m of funding for the overall project including over £17m for the highway and reclamation works. More than £3m is also being provided by other public and private partnerships, including HoV and CCBC. | |
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